December 7/03 3:34 am - CCA AGM News and Notes

Posted by Editor on 12/7/03

CCA AGM Notes and News

The results of the elections have been published already (see Daily News December 7/03 2:55 pm EST). The make up of the Board has become even further slanted to the west, with Alberta's Tony de Jong (former Alberta President) replacing easterner Paul Carter. However, the new Board offers a strong cross-section of skills and experience, and, hopefully, will move forward on some neglected areas.

After what we feel has been a somewhat lost year, due to factors such as the Road Worlds taking away key personnel, and dealing with the implementation of a new constitution and Board structure, 2004 will really be a make-or-break year for the Association.

The CCA scrambled to pull together some late season high performance projects, and relied too heavily on a few key athletes for rankings, while having little to show in athlete development program. They also continue to rely of a few existing sponsors for funding (along with Sport Canada and membership licence/insurance fees). Lesley Tomlinson made the requirement to attract further sponsors a key element of her election bid, and hopefully we will start to see some long overdue movement in this area.

Andreas Hestler, the Athlete's Rep on the Board chaired the first ever Athlete's Council meeting at this AGM, and the athletes appear to be moving forward on their plans to increase their voice in the Association. The Athlete's Council will consist of representatives from each of the cycling disciplines (Road, Track, Mountain, BMX and Paralympics), and representatives from each of the National Training Centres. They will address policy and programs that affect the athletes, and act as a voice for the needs and rights of athletes. Hestler explains that the Council is still being assembled, but they hope to have a functioning body by the spring. A number of top riders, including Michael Barry, Alison Sydor, Dominique Perras and Eric Wohlberg attended the first meeting, and came away with positive thoughts on the steps that are being taken The athletes' voice has been neglected for too long at the CCA Board level, so this is a needed body.

In other news from the AGM, there appears to be a serious potential problem with the Track Nationals being held in Victoria next year. The Events Committee is demanding a July 1st weekend date, so that it will fall one week after Road Nationals in Kamloops. The reason is to reduce travel costs for provincial teams, since the cost of making two trips to BC for eastern teams could be an additional $10,000-$12,000, according to Events Committee Chair Louis Barbeau. However, the organizers at the Victoria track report that it will be all but impossible to hold the event at the time, due to facility scheduling problems during high season in this heavy tourism region. They have asked for a later date - late July or early August. So far, both sides are saying that they cannot be flexible, with the organizers stating that they may have to turn down the event, and the Events Committee talking about other potential locations, including Edmonton and Calgary.

The biggest problem, which Louis Barbeau agreed is a concern, is the move to holding the Road Nationals on the last weekend in June. While there are valid reasons for this in Europe for the pro men's peloton, the need for this date is less obvious in Canada. We have only 1-2 athletes who are affected, and the June date falls in the busiest time of the North American road racing schedule. The Road Nationals should be a marquee event, with no other major cycling events happening in North America at the same time to detract attention. It used to be always held in mid to late July, with the Track Nationals in early August. Barbeau himself has said that the Events Committee is willing to look at moving back to that timing. We ask: why not explore the option of doing it this year, if Kamloops is willing?

Bicycle Nova Scotia put in a bid to host the 2004 AGM.

The Grand Prix Féminin International du Canada has been confirmed for 2004. The date has been moved from late September to August (4-8). It will continue to hold a UCI sanction.

Finally, the CCA presented some awards that were not given out at last night's PacificSport Gala: